Smartphone Apps to Simplify Your Life

While many smartphone users might be dazzled with the fact that there are more than 1 million apps on the market, you’re not necessarily one of them. After all, you’re nothing if not practical. Only if an app can truly make your information-loaded life and day-to-day doings easier are you apt to try it.

Here’s a small sampling of smartphone apps designed to do just that. All are free and iPhone and Android compatible.

Grocery iQ
You can shop smarter at the grocery store with the Grocery iQ app. Along with storing and organizing grocery lists, the app also tallies up your bill before you hit the checkout thanks to a built-in barcode scanner. Focused on saving you money, Grocery iQ is rife with coupon incentives, too.

Dropbox
You’ve got loads of important files…on everything from your work computer, to your home desktop and your personal laptop. Ever wish you could access them all in one place? Now you can. Dropbox lets you store your files in the cloud and access them from anywhere via the Internet.

Mint.com
If getting a better grip on your income, spending and investments is top of mind, you might well find the Mint.com app invaluable. Giving you the big picture, this app lets you see all of your financial accounts in one place. Focused on dollars and cents, too, Mint.com’s app tracks all of your spending (categorizing it for better budgeting), provides bill-payment alerts, suggest ways to save…and more.

Smartr Contacts
You know you have their contact information. You just can’t recall where it is off the top of your head. The Smartr Contacts app provides search functionality across your many address books – including your iPhone contacts, Twitter connections, Facebook friends, LinkedIn colleagues, Gmail contacts and more.

Key Ring or CardStar
With all the store loyalty cards you’ve collected through the years, that key ring of yours is getting awfully crowded, isn’t it? Say good-bye to carrying around loyalty cards and hello to apps including Key Ring and CardStar. They allow you to scan your loyalty card information into your phone and store barcodes and account numbers in digital format. At checkout, store clerks simply scan the loyalty barcode on your phone.

EverNote
You never know when a great idea is going to strike. Thankfully, the EverNote app lets you take notes, snap photos, create to-do lists and record voice reminders to help you stay on track and improve productivity while you’re on the go. Making your notes completely searchable, EverNote syncs across all of your computers and devices and jibes with other apps including Facebook and Twitter.